Incredibly popular among US service men and women the Gerber 06 Auto provides the heft, speed, grip, and usability to work in the world’s roughest environments.
Gerber has special discounts for military personnel and even gives them knives for free when they deploy. This is a genius marketing strategy that was extremely successful during and after WWII when companies gave free products to soldiers fighting fascism and to keep us all free. With Gerber’s strong marketing strategy aimed right at military personnel, you can start to understand why the 06 auto is built the way it is.
I’ve never hidden that my normal off-duty EDC knife is my Microtech LUDT. I love that knife but I do not carry on when on duty, I carry an 06 auto. The reasons are quite simple, the LUDT handle is made from aluminum which is great but it’s too slippery to be carried when you may be covered with water, snow, blood, or who knows what. The LUDT’s push button is nicely flush fitted into the handle which is great, except when you need it in an emergency and it’s hard to find quickly and easily.
The reasons I carry and love the 06 Auto for duty is that it is an automatic. I’m sorry for those of you that don’t live in free states, it’s ridiculous that an auto knife is restricted at all, But that’s a rant for another time. The push button is large and impossible to miss when you need it. This model has the G10 grips which means you’ll always have a strong hold on it. The large blade works well, cutting someone down who’s hung themselves, cutting through seatbelts to free them from a burning vehicle, and in the worst-case scenario, it works better for self-defense. But using a knife in a self-defense situation is a bad idea, no one gets out of a knife fight clean.
The action is strong and flips the blade out quickly. I’ve tried to make it fail and haven’t been able to do so. It’s not quite as strong as Microtech’s but it does work well. I will say that I own three of these and two have strong, powerful actions, but one’s is much weaker. It still works but isn’t as good as the others. I should have contacted Gerber about it but I failed to do so. I’ll probably simply replace the spring with a more powerful one and call it a day.
One of my favorite parts is since it’s an automatic is must be made in the USA. It’s unfortunate that Gerber doesn’t believe all their products should be made in America but this is one that is and you can feel good about that.
Overall I’m very happy with my 06 autos and as I stated above, I carry one all the time at work and trust my life to it. In fact, I’ve even started buying them for all my officers when they’re hired or graduate from the academy. That’s the biggest endorsement I can give any product.
Stay safe, be kind, and help those in need.